The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus and, more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus comprising a sheet conveying path which can be used as an original sheet conveying path or as a recording sheet conveying path.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, an original sheet conveying path 1 and a recording sheet conveying path 2 are separately provided in the upper part and the lower part of a facsimile apparatus. Further, an original reading unit 3 is provided on the original sheet conveying path 1 and a recording unit 4 is provided on the recording sheet conveying path 2.
In the conventional apparatus as described above, after a plurality of originals 6 are placed on a document feeder 5, then a separating roller 7 and a separating member 8 pinch the top edge of one of the placed originals to convey it. Thus, the separating roller 7 is provided with torque from driving units in order to separate the originals 6, then the originals 6 are conveyed downstream one at a time. The originals 6 are conveyed to the original reading unit 3 by paper feed rollers 9a and 9b at a constant speed. The original reading unit 3 reads the originals 6, successively the read originals 6 are ejected outside of the main body of the facsimile apparatus by ejecting rollers 10a and 10b. Whereas, a plurality of recording sheets 12 which are stored in a paper cassette 11 are separated by a pick-up roller 13 and conveyed downstream separately. Then each recording sheet 12 is conveyed to the recording unit 4 by paper feed rollers 14a and 14b at a constant speed. The recording unit 4 prints on the recording sheets 12 while the recording sheets are kept conveyed at the constant speed. The printed recording sheets 12 are ejected outside of the main body of the facsimile apparatus by ejecting rollers 15a and 15b.
According to the conventional facsimile apparatus as shown in FIG. 4, relatively large space is required for the facsimile apparatus to have the original sheet conveying path 1 and the recording sheet conveying path 2, since they are provided separately, and prevent minimizing the size of the facsimile apparatus as well as to reduce cost, since a large number of parts are necessary to build the two separate conveying paths.
There can be suggested a facsimile apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, which has one conveying path which conveys the originals 6 and the recording sheets 12 in the same path throughout.
The problem of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 5 is that a sheet has to be set one at a time, since there is only one feed opening for an original and a record sheet. As a result, a user has to set either the original or the recording sheet, each time, when reception or transmission is operated. Therefore, such the facsimile is inconvenient to use, since receiving operation is commonly expected to be performed automatically.